I saw National Treasure last weekend. I thought it would be a fun movie, but, honestly, I wasn't expecting much. As a result, I was pleasantly surprised. I really liked the movie quite a bit. The history is fascinating, even if woven together in a totally inaccurate way while pushing the conspiracy theory that the Freemasons founded and run the country to this day. Regardless, the movie is a "thumbs up" in my book.
Nicholas Cage does pretty good job as history scholar/treasure hunter. It's easy to see how his character -- Benjamin Franklin Gates -- could get caught up in such an obsession, especially when he grew up in a family that not only had encyclopedic knowledge of history, but had some fascinating documents to back up their crazy theory.
If you pay attention to the details, you will be entertained for a solid two hours and you might even learn something about American history.
Friday, December 03, 2004
Saturday, November 27, 2004
terrorists and leadership
I know the election is over (how could Kerry give up so easily?) but I've been wanting to write about this since the day after Nov. 2.
If you believe the rhetoric of the Bush administration, you would think that Bush is helping to safeguard Americans in the war on terrorism. So, my challenge to that is to ask the following question: If you were attacked by a terrorist, who would you have voted for?
It seems that a lot of Americans (I can't say the majority because a lot of those who voted for Bush did so out of reasons that had nothing to do with terrorism, war, economics, etc.) voted for Bush because he will protect us from terrorist attacks. Well, if that's so, then why did the people who WERE attacked by terrorists vote, overwhelmingly, for Kerry? What am I talking about? Well, simply, the places that were attacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001 voted for Kerry:
If you believe the rhetoric of the Bush administration, you would think that Bush is helping to safeguard Americans in the war on terrorism. So, my challenge to that is to ask the following question: If you were attacked by a terrorist, who would you have voted for?
It seems that a lot of Americans (I can't say the majority because a lot of those who voted for Bush did so out of reasons that had nothing to do with terrorism, war, economics, etc.) voted for Bush because he will protect us from terrorist attacks. Well, if that's so, then why did the people who WERE attacked by terrorists vote, overwhelmingly, for Kerry? What am I talking about? Well, simply, the places that were attacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001 voted for Kerry:
- WTC - located in Manhatten, NY - 82% Kerry, 17% Bush
- Pentagon - located in Arlington, VA - 68% Kerry, 31% Bush
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
smart... puttin' down roots...
I bought a condo. Well, I bought one almost 2 months ago now. Pretty hard to believe for me to tell you the truth. I keep thinking it's an apartment that I've decidied to take care of. But it's actually mine. Ok, it belongs to the bank and will for a long time, but in theory it's mine. So, I guess that's what counts.
One of many reasons I bought this condo was that I was starting to question the belief that my friends and I had about living in The Bay Area. That belief being that "we" -- the collective we of people of our economic status -- could never own real estate around here. I was really, really starting to question this belief. And I'm glad I did, because now I own my own place! To tell you the truth, until I had the keys in my hand I didn't believe it. The whole process was quite surreal. I'll have to write about that at a later time. I did gain a bunch more grey hair as a result, but it's pretty amazing how my stress level has gone down since the day I got my keys. Of course, I'm stressed more than ever about losing my job, but there's not too much I can do about that.
People have told me that I'm smart for doing what I did. I have to agree. Others have said that I'm "puttin' down roots." Not so sure about that one, but maybe. Either way, this is home for now, and it feels, for the first time in my adult life, that "home" actually means something.
So, I highly encourage everyone to try to buy something, anything. And if you live in San Francisco and are low income, there is a really cool program (The Second Loan Program for first time home buyers) to help you get started. I know someone, two people in fact, that have used this program and both have said it was really easy to do. But you have to have money down, which I didn't so I couldn't use it. But if you are serious about buying property in SF, you would be wise to check it out.
One of many reasons I bought this condo was that I was starting to question the belief that my friends and I had about living in The Bay Area. That belief being that "we" -- the collective we of people of our economic status -- could never own real estate around here. I was really, really starting to question this belief. And I'm glad I did, because now I own my own place! To tell you the truth, until I had the keys in my hand I didn't believe it. The whole process was quite surreal. I'll have to write about that at a later time. I did gain a bunch more grey hair as a result, but it's pretty amazing how my stress level has gone down since the day I got my keys. Of course, I'm stressed more than ever about losing my job, but there's not too much I can do about that.
People have told me that I'm smart for doing what I did. I have to agree. Others have said that I'm "puttin' down roots." Not so sure about that one, but maybe. Either way, this is home for now, and it feels, for the first time in my adult life, that "home" actually means something.
So, I highly encourage everyone to try to buy something, anything. And if you live in San Francisco and are low income, there is a really cool program (The Second Loan Program for first time home buyers) to help you get started. I know someone, two people in fact, that have used this program and both have said it was really easy to do. But you have to have money down, which I didn't so I couldn't use it. But if you are serious about buying property in SF, you would be wise to check it out.
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